Drama Beat

Deadline this week for Chinook One Act Drama Festival

The deadline is approaching to enter the Chinook One Act Drama festival, an annual event sponsored by Playgoers of Lethbridge. It takes place at the ATB Community Room in Casa, Friday, April 6.

So far, there are four entries in this year’s festival including one written by Playgoers of Lethbridge veteran Elaine Jagielski and three from University of Lethbridge students. Original scripts are welcome as well as existing scripts. Submissions can be no longer than 60 minutes and no shorter than 10 minutes.

Registration is $25 with a cheque made out to Playgoers of Lethbridge.

Playgoers of Lethbridge covers the entry fee for Playgoers members.

The plays will be adjudicated by theatre professionals. Previous adjudicators have included New West Artistic Director and drama teacher Sharon Peat and U of L professor and playwright Ron Chambers. Awards will be given for best actor, best actress, best original script and best play. The best play chosen will be able to compete at the Provincial One Act Play Competition in Fort McMurray, May 25-27.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

Comedy in The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine to appeal to couples

Wednesday, 07 March 2018 09:31
Richard Amery

Local theatre company Espresso Theatre bring back familiar faces, real life couple Devon Brayne and Jocelyn Haub to play a quarrelling couple in the comedy “The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine.” The show runs at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building, March 7-11 at 8 p.m. each night.

Espresso Theatre has previously produced the Cotton patch Gospel, Dickens and Mein Hump. They are working with the U of l drama department for the Leah Cherniak, Robert Morgan and Martha Ross written “ The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine.”

“It’s about a young couple who fall in love and get married and start living together and discover deeper truths about themselves,” summarized director Andrew Legg adding It’s about the experience of choosing the person you want to be with out of the thousands available.

“It’s about the expectations you have when you move in together, and they all come together to comic effect,” he continued, noting Devon Brayne and Jocelyn Haub were his first choices to be in the production.

“As soon as I learned these two were back in town, I knew I had to have them in the play and it was like Christmas when they said yes,” Legg chuckled.

Legg , who is married with three kids recognized himself in the play as did Brayne and Haub, who immediately recognized themselves in the characters‘ dialogue.

U of L revisits Agatha Christie classic the Mousetrap

Wednesday, 14 February 2018 09:50
Richard Amery

The University of Lethbridge is excited to present Agatha Christie’s classic whodunnit “ The Mousetrap,” Feb. 13-17 at University Theatre.“ That’s exactly why we’re doing it— it’s a classic,” said director Dr. Shelley Scott.“ And it’s a contrast from the more experimental and avant-garde theatre that we have done in the past,” she continued.

“We’ve tried to respect Agatha Christie’s work. Each of these characters have their own unique stories,” she noted.

“ It’s a classic whodunnit where you try to guess who the murderer is,” she continued.

She noted her cast has gone beyond and above the call of duty.“We‘ve got a couple of actors who have never been involved in a main-stage theatre production and others who are veterans. They are all a very dedicated and committed cast. They’ve spent a lot of time outside of rehearsals working with each other. And Cole (Fetting) has to do an Italian accent, so he‘s been working with Doug MacArthur as a dialogue coach,” she said.

The cast includes some familiar faces including Cole Fetting who has been involved in numerous community theatre productions as well as university productions including “Nothing left to Burn” last year.“Playgoers of Lethbridge did the Mousetrap eight years ago and I was assistant stage manager for it,” observed Cole Fetting, who plays Paravicini.

Fran Rude and Ken Rogers are excited to present “ a story that never dies” as a fundraiser for the LSCO.

Auditions are tonight and tomorrow, Feb. 5 and 6 in the LCI Choir room for the October production of Tony Award winning Titanic the Musical, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

“The Titanic sunk in 1912 and 106 years later people are still talking about it,” noted director Fran Rude, emphasizing the musical has nothing to do with the famous Leonardo di Caprio movie.

“It’s based on the book “ A Night to Remember. So all of the characters on stage are people who were on the ship,” she said, adding 34-37 cast members will be required.

“We could have a cast of thousands for this performance. There is also a 34-60 person choir on stage who represent the other people on the ship and a 27 piece orchestra on stage who have been handpicked by (musical director/conductor) Ken Rogers,” said Rude, who collaborated with Rogers on their very successful 2016 LSCO fundraiser of Jesus Christ Superstar.

“Jesus Christ Superstar was very successful. The LSCO provides essential services. The organization has a very special place in Lethbridge. All of the money raised will go towards programming. So we‘re happy to help them out,” she said, adding they have most of their backstage crew already arranged. Plus last year the LSCO supplied 91 volunteers for Jesus Christ Superstar.

"Titanic - The Musical" is the Tony winning story of the unsinkable ship and its maiden voyage, which won Tony awards for best musical, best book and best score. The story and music are not based on the James Cameron movie. The musical runs Thursday - Saturday, Oct. 17-20, 2018 at the refurbished Yates Theatre. There will also be a matinee on Sunday, Oct. 21. Rehearsals will begin in mid-August.